175
A
public situation describes the reading of texts that relate to activities and concerns of the
larger society
. The category includes official documents as well as information about public
events. In general, the texts associated with this category assume a more or less anonymous
contact with others; therefore they also include message boards, news websites
and public
notices that are encountered both on line and in print.
The content of
educational situations makes use of texts designed specifically for the purpose
of instruction. Printed textbooks, electronic textbooks and interactive learning software are
typical examples of material generated for this kind of reading. Educational reading normally
involves acquiring information as part of a larger learning task. The materials are often not
chosen by the reader, but instead assigned by an instructor.
Many 15-year-olds will move from school into the labour force within one to two years. A typical
occupational reading situation is one that involves the accomplishment of some immediate
task. It might include searching for a job, eit
her in a print newspaper’s classified advertisement
section
or online; or following workplace directions. Texts written for these purposes, and the
tasks based on them, are classified as occupational in PISA. While only some of the 15-year-
olds who are assessed will currently have to read at work, it is important to include tasks based
on texts that are related to work since the assessment of young people’s readiness for life
beyond compulsory schooling and their ability to use their knowledge and skills to meet real-life
challenges is a fundamental goal of PISA.
Many texts used in classrooms are not specifically designed for classroom use. For example, a
piece of literary text may typically be read by a 15-year-old in a mother-tongue language or
literature
class, yet the text was written (presumably) for readers’ personal enjoyment and
appreciation. Given its original purpose, such a text is classified as being used in a
personal
situation in PISA. As Hubbard (1989) has shown, some kinds of reading usually associated
with out-of-school settings for children, such as rules for clubs and records of games, often
take place informally at school as well. These are classified as
public situations in PISA.
Conversely, textbooks are read both in
schools and in homes, and the process and purpose
probably differ little from one setting to another. These are classified as
educational situations
in PISA.
96. It should be noted that many texts can be cross-classified to different situations. In practice, for
example, a text may be intended both to delight and to instruct (personal and educational); or to
provide professional advice, which is also general information (occupational and public). While
content is not a variable that is specifically manipulated in this study, by sampling texts across a
variety of situations the intent is to maximise the diversity of content that will be included in the
PISA reading literacy test.
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